A Mid Valentine's Day Dream: Fuji's Nightmare
by Tamashi.no.Koe
Summary: Fuji Syusuke burst into tears. The rest of the regulars looked at each other. Tezuka rounded on Inui. 'How did this happen.' The data collector struggled to keep a straight face. 'I have no idea.'
1. Fuji's Nightmare

**Author's Note: This is like a sequel to both Broken Smile and A Mid Valentine's Day Dream Holiday Special. In case you haven't read one or both, here's some of the background info that you need to know to enjoy this story:**

Tezumi: Fuji's girlfriend. In Broken Smile, she saved Fuji from drowning, almost at the expense of her own life. Um, basically, it dragged on for 28 chapters before they got together, so let me tell you, THEY ARE SERIOUS about each other. 

Love potion: In A Mid Valentine's Day Dream, Eiji discovered this by accident, and well, you can imagine what happened. This is Eiji we're talking about. Anyway, Fuji was especially affected by it because Tezuka fell in love with him, and um, well, take it as a warning, all you girls dreaming about this buchou: You don't EVER want him to fall in love with you. Really.

But enough of my babbling, let's start the story. Be warned, I am being very, VERY mean to Fuji in this one. 

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Fuji Syusuke burst into tears.

And Tezumi didn't care.

The rest of the Seigaku regulars looked at each other.

"How did this happen?" Tezuka rounded on Inui.

The data collector struggled to keep his face straight. "I have no idea."

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Inui Sadaharu was almost at the point of tearing all his hair out. No, he was actually nearing the point of ripping up his notebook. A little more drastic, but it hurt less.

The reason for this sudden outburst of violence?

"My Inui Juice has failed, once again, to get a reaction out of Fuji Syusuke." Oh, how he _hated_ the tensai for not screaming and begging for mercy at the very sight of his otherwise infamous juice! Of course, 'no reaction' was a slight exaggeration on Inui's part; Fuji had, at least, smacked his lips and asked for more of the poisonous green concoction.

Inui flipped furiously through his recipes, frantically searching for once that he hadn't already terrorized the regulars with, but in vain. 

Tossing the irritating book over his shoulder, he proceeded onto the next best thing: mixing random chemicals together and hoping that the resultant mixture exploded, killing him and delivering his tortured soul from this horrendous maltreatment, or turned out to the ultimate vegetable juice feared by all. Even annoying prodigies with dysfunctional taste buds.

Sadly, these last desperate lunges at success were of no avail. He had, by combining several super corrosive acids, managed to come up with something halfway decent, but decided that a lifetime in jail was an unreasonable price to pay for the few moments of satisfaction he would get before Fuji finally died.

It was time, Inui mused, for a new approach. Since the tennis genius was apparently immune to pain of the internal organs, perhaps a psychological assult?

He wouldn't target Yuuta; no, St. Rudolph was too far away. Better to close on someone closer at hand. Tapping his pen slowly on his chin, a smirk of anticipation slowly grew and curled his thin lips.

He knew the perfect person and potion.

Inui's chance came a few days later when the Seigaku regulars gathered at Kawamura's sushi bar to celebrate yet another victory of their school. He had devised his master plan so that Fuji would never know what had happened before it had; and even better, the tantalizing tensai would be unknowingly planting the seed of his own destruction. He would never know what hit him.

Actually, not what had hit _him_...

"Saa, Tezumi, are you hungry? Have some sushi." Dear, considerate Fuji pushed the plate towards his girlfriend.

Unbeknown to the other regulars and their various dates, Inui slipped his Hyper-vitalized Extreme Love Potion out of an inner pocket. It was the revised and improved version of the love potion that had wrecked havoc in Seigaku last Valentine's Day, with the help of Eiji. Only by the redhead's account of events had Inui been able to pinpoint the former potion's only weakness: it was utterly uncontrollable; the weakness of love itself. Not that anything was strictly predictable in Eiji's hands, but Inui decided not to risk it again.

Thus the creation of the **H**yper-vitalized **E**xtreme **L**ove **P**otion that made you shout "HELP!"

Literally.

Discreetly taking a cup of tea, his glasses flashed dangerously as he poured some of this new drink into the brown liquid. Another new feature was that instead of being pale pink, this new juice was undistinguishable from water--until someone drank it.

"Thanks." With a smile, Tezumi picked up a piece of sushi and popped it into her mouth, totally unsuspecting of her loving boyfriend.

"Ahh!" But then, Inui doubted that she would ever take anything the smiling boy offered again; at least, not any time soon. The dark haired teen didn't think Fuji had given her the wasabi sushi on purpose, but with this particular tensai, you just never knew.

"Here, Tezumi, drink some tea." The data collector shoved a cup into the hysterical girl's hands, as was the normal practice for people who had consumed Fuji's poor imitations of food. Tezumi gulped it down without a thought. His friends were so naive sometimes.

"FUJI!" On recovery, she turned on the still grinning prodigy, who found himself face to face with an irate girlfriend.

"Sorry, sorry."

He was the first person Tezumi had set eyes on after swallowing Inui's secrets weapon, but Inui wasn't worried; oh no, he definitely wasn't worried.

"Fuji Syusuke! How many times have I told you that I can't stand wasa--" Before she could even hit Fuji over the head for his crime, her rant slowed to a stop. She blinked silently.

"Tezumi? Tezumi, does it really hurt?" The light haired boy's smile faltered, getting up suddenly and hurrying over to her in genuine concern.

Slowly, her brain regained mobility. She wriggled out of his arms. "Inui?"

"Yes? Let the show begin. The best part about the new love potion was that whoever drank a little of it fell in love with...

"I love you." The person in possession of the rest of the drink.

Silence.

"WHAT?!" There were a few loud bangs as the remaining regulars hit their knees on the tables as they shot to their feet.

"Uh, Tezumi senpai? Jokes are supposed to be funny, you know." Momo attempted to laugh away the situation, as typical of him.

"Saa, Tezumi."

Inui couldn't believe it; the guy was still smiling.

"Tezumi, don't scare me like that. If you're bored, we can go somewhere together." Fuji reached out to take her hand.

Smirking inside, Inui let him.

"No! I don't want to go with you. Im staying with Sadaharu-kun!"

"Wow," Eiji said in a loud whisper. "She won't call Fuji 'Syusuke' but she calls Inui 'Sadaharu'?"

A few casualties couldn't be helped, Inui figured, seeing the way Fuji looked at the redhead. 

"Ne, Tezumi, don't play like that."

Inui noted with glee that the nerve wrecking smile was finally gone. 

"I'm not playing! I'm going to be with Sadaharu-kun for ever and ever! Go away!"

The potion's ability to change a person's character was also a lot more prominent. Inui didn't blame the others for gawking at the pouting girl in disbelief; she had once risked her life to save Fuij's after all. And people like that weren't usually in the habit of changing their minds overnight.

"Saa, don't you love me anymore, Tezumi?"

None of the other regulars tried to intervene. As much as they pitied Fuji, it wasn't every day they saw this side of the tensai, vulnerable and insecure with his voice all shaky. Inui knew that one untimely grin could basically cost him his life, but it was very hard to hold back the wild laughter building in him. The simple, harmless looking love juice had finally achieved what stomach burning, neon colored drinks hadn't. It had hurt the unhurtable tennis prodigy of Seishun Gakun.

"Tezumi?"

"No, I don't love you! I only love Sadaharu-kun! I hate you! Get out; I never want to see you again!" Inui just had to keep still, acting shocked, while Tezumi planted a big kiss on his cheek. "I love you, Sadaharu-kun!"

And that is how it came about that the cheerful, poker faced Fuji Syusuke burst into tears.


	2. Fuji's Plan

Fuji was dimly aware that everyone was staring at him.

A statement which could be due to quite a number of explanations, seeing as it is Fuji Syusuke, tennis tensai of Seigaku that we are talking about.

However, lest anyone wrongly assumes that this bout of gawking had been brought about by a spectacular new move of Fuji's on the court, or simply the fact that he was around, surrounded by adoring fans, elaboration is in due course.

'Everyone was staring at him', mainly because he was crying. And the sight of Fuji crying is a sight to stare at indeed.

The fact that he was 'dimly' aware was because…well, pretty much the same reason, split into two important components. Him being 'dimly' aware was obviously because no one, not even a prodigy, was all-powerful over their feelings, and as Fuji shamelessly wept on, he reflected that anyone whose girlfriend had just turned around and kissed another guy on the cheek was entitled to losing control and be a little less alert for a while.

Also, he could _only_ be 'dimly' aware of anything else that was going on inside Takamura Sushi Restaurant thanks to the fact that his eyes were blurred with tears.

Which was a huge disadvantage, Fuji was sure, because while he was definitely wracked with grief, broken hearted and desperately crying, he was still a wracked with grief, broken hearted and desperately crying _tensai_. And as a tensai, his first instinct was to find the culprit which had caused him to become wracked with grief, broken hearted—

Well, his first instinct was to find the culprit.

Except the task was now hampered by the large amount of moisture that handicapped his vision.

BUT.

But, Fuji didn't give up. No, he didn't for one moment give up, because _he was a tensai_, and if he could survive normal life with _no_ eyesight, then it followed that he would have a reasonable chance of solving the mystery with semi-functional eyesight.

Besides, his brain was still intact even if his heart was not.

Fuji had a very clear memory of one particular Valentine's Day, when—to put it lightly—Tezuka had fallen in love with him. In fact, he rendered the memory all too clear, and grew very upset with Eiji every time he remembered that it had been the red-haired acrobat who had slipped Tezuka the Love Potion which had led to all the chaos. After which Inui had grown more careful about leaving his vegetable juices around.

_Vegetable juices…love potion…Inui_.

Fuji's dripping eyelids flew open, though he at once wished that they had not. Tezumi, his girlfriend, was giving the twisted criminal a loving hug, oblivious that her boyfriend was on the verge of running himself through with the wooden chopsticks on the table.

"Inui…" he said softly, his voice steady even while the tears continued to run down his face.

"Yes?" The blasted data collector showed no sign of remorse; he showed no sign of anything whatsoever, his words a flat monotone as usual.

Or was it? Fuji thought—or was it just his imagination, brought to life by his suspicions?—that on the stoic face of his new rival in love, there was a trace of smug satisfaction.

"Did you—" Fuji started to ask, but swallowed his question of "Did you make another batch of love potion again?" before it could fully form. The others, he conceded, didn't want or need to know about that last minuscule accident on Eiji's part. Tezuka, at least, would not be delighted to know that he had tried to force Fuji into marriage and had literally run him to the ground with loving laps. Instead, Fuji opted for a neutral, "Did you…do anything to her?"

"No, I did not," the swindling liar said blandly. "I do not care for Tezumi-san, and have no motivation to win her affections."

Fuji was still completely sure of his guilt, though. Tezumi would not have changed her mind so suddenly, even though…

"Sadaharu-kun!" she purred. Fuji gave an involuntary twitch; the sort of twitch that normally progresses on to the strangulation of an unwary victim. "It's too crowded here. Let's go somewhere else where we can be…_alone_." She smiled, an alluring smile that was quite captivating, but at the same time looked wrong and completely uncharacteristic of her.

_Seductive_, Fuji almost thought, before shaking his head violently.

_She wouldn't, she wouldn't, she wouldn't…_

But apparently he was wrong, because at that very moment the girl in question got up and pulled Inui to his feet, and proceeded to drag him out of the room onto the street.

"Tezumi!" Fuji said urgently, catching hold of her arm. "You're not yourself right now, I—I've never seen you act this way. You're not supposed to—just stay here for now, ok?"

Only, Tezumi didn't seem to want to co-operate. "NO! I hate you! I said I never want to see you again. Come on, Sadaharu-kun." At the last sentence, her voice subsided to a low, persuasive tone again.

She tried to tug her arm out of Fuji's grasp, but the latter didn't let go. Then, with surprising strength, she suddenly pushed him backwards into the sushi counter and jerked her limb away a split second later, wrenching open the sliding door and leading Inui, who had made no comment or attempt to stop her, into the cool evening air.

Silence reigned inside the sushi restaurant, as Fuji gingerly gathered himself and stood up shakily, holding onto the counter for support.

"Fuji…how are you feeling? Are you…" Even Oishi, the only one who had recovered fast enough and was brave enough to approach Fuji in this unstable state, could not bring himself to ask the outrageously stupid question of "Are you ok?"

Because obviously, he was not. But the queer thing was, now that the source of agitation had left, Fuji seemed to be able to calm down a little. At least, as he let go of the cool counter and looked around at his team-mates' stunned faces, his mind ground back into action, trying its best to form a plan that would make everything the way it should be again.

Even his face relaxed, and his lips slid back into their familiar curvature, which caused more widening of eyes and several people to draw back from him.

But already, he had the beginning of an idea of what to do. All that was left was how he was going to carry it out. Normally, Fuji would have preferred to operate alone. His consistent losses in doubles games told him that perhaps he was more adept at managing things on his own. This time, though, the stakes were higher. One failed attempt and the task at hand would be a lot harder than it already was, maybe even harder than the typical genius could handle.

And he was not, on any conditions, giving up on Tezumi Sachie.

Fuji looked around at his—to put it mildly—startled, but concerned team-mates, and opened his mouth. "Please, minna-sama…"

Then, from between his quivering lips came two words that he suspected his friends had never heard from him before and would probably never hear again.

"Help me."

* * *

Tezuka was slightly apprehensive of this plan.

Actually, he was _very_ apprehensive, partly because the complex strategy had been spawned from a person who was gravely hurt—emotionally—and might have been driven over the edge by sheer despair. That kind of people didn't come up with the most reliable of plans in general.

The second, more sinister reason, was because the plan technically involved a breach in the law.

For the first time ever, the Seigaku Boys' Tennis Team was going to do something illegal.

"Are we all here?" Fuji asked quietly, looked around at the small group of people gathered on the sidewalk a little way from the Inui residence.

Tezuka, Eiji and Momoshiro nodded.

"So, if everyone's clear about the plan, let's get on with it, ok?"

"Ok," the all answered. Somewhat reluctantly, for one particular member.

For the thousandth time that day, Tezuka wondered whether or not it might have been more beneficial for everyone on the whole to just have jumped Fuji and tied him to a chair to calm down, the moment he had announced his magnificent plans.

As the Pillar of Support of Seigaku, however, Tezuka also felt that it was his duty to plan ahead and look out for his team's well being both now and in the future. He had to admit, while the ambushing of the freshly love-deprived and distraught Fuji would have restored temporary peace, it wouldn't really have been the best thing to do in terms of the tennis team's long-term welfare.

Not when the resident prodigy, who had so recently succumbed to tears and had remained in imminent danger of doing so again for a long time afterwards, was their best candidate for the position of Singles Two.

The sensible captain knew that if he did anything rash, he might just have to lead his team to the Nationals to bravely face all the challenges and turmoil the tournament threw at them, never admitting defeat until the very end—only to discover that the very end had come a lot quicker than anyone anticipated or wanted because their second best player had decided to cry right through instead of playing until the day they came home, hanging their heads.

Tezuka just couldn't risk it.

* * *

"Remember, on the count of three," Fuji said, with the sort of grim determination that normally preceded either an act of greatness or a well planned murder.

Except when the act was an act of greatness _because_ it was a well planned murder.

Which, in Fuji's mind at least—his mind being full of shadowy images of a treacherous villain with cruelly spiky hair and insanely flashing glasses—was an act to be applauded indeed.

The four parted ways as they approached the house that was soon to be under siege, Fuji heading for the front door and the other three rounding the corner to sink into the shadows underneath a certain window.

"One, two—"

_Here's to an act of greatness._

"—_three!_"

_Ding-dong!_

All within the building and outside of it heard the doorbell, but only a select few who knew what was really going on heard the muffled _clang_ that echoed simultaneously with the bell, as a firm metal hook latched on to the window sill above them.

The door creaked open.

"Ah, Fuji."

* * *

"Saa, good evening, Inui," Fuji said, sounding perfectly friendly. "Thought I'd like a chat. Mind if I come in?"

For a split second Tezuka thought that Inui would make up some excuse for not letting the smiling tensai in, but—

_He will allow me entry,_ Fuji's words flooded back to him. _He is aware that I suspect him, but is not yet willing to admit it. Shutting me out would be on par with an open confession of having done something wrong._

"Of course not. Mind the doorstep." Holding the door for Fuji to pass, Inui let him into the house and closed the door after him.

As it clicked shut, Momoshiro muttered, "Go."

Eiji pounced at once onto the rope that hung suspended from the hook they had sent up earlier, deftly pulling himself upwards until he could place a cautious hand on the window sill.

After a careful peek, the redhead's face split into a huge grin as he leapt lightly onto the sill and disappeared inside the lit room.

* * *

Fuji was knew perfectly well that Inui had been expecting him.

Now, any non-tensai would have started to think about serious implications and _very_ serious potential consequences of doing something that Inui already expected.

But since Fuji is most conveniently a tensai, instead of _starting_ to think he had already _finished _thinking about those serious implications and very serious potential consequences, and therefore was in relatively less danger of being caught off guard.

Not that he would have been worried anyway, him being used to walking around with his eyes closed.

People who do that sort of thing are never very worried in general.

"Please sit down." Gesturing towards a sofa, Inui settled himself into the comfy chair opposite it. "What is it that you wanted to talk about?"

Fuji made no move to start the conversation; he was in no hurry. _You will not be pressed for time_, he had told his friends. _Inui will be very suspicious of my visit, even though he knows it will happen, and will not leave me in the room alone. He will want to keep an eye on me; he thinks I will try something if I get the chance. I will keep him in the sitting room. _

Seeing that Fuji wasn't about to begin talking, Inui said, out of common courtesy, which he thought would be wise to show at that moment, "Would you like something to drink?"

Fuji smiled broadly. "Yes, please."

Inui got up to go to the kitchen, but found Fuji following close behind.

"Is it ok if I come with you? I'd like to see more of the house."

Such as the place the Inuis kept their drinks, because no sensible person—much less a tensai—_ever_ leaves Inui alone to fetch something that they are going to consume.

Well, they _could_, the remedy being that they refuse to touch anything Inui comes back with.

Which would kind of have defeated the point of accepting the refreshment in the first place.

Whatever secrets Inui kept, though, none of them were stored in the kitchen, where anyone in his family could stumble upon it. As Fuji expected, the taller boy made no protest as the tensai entered into the clean, airy room.

He watched Inui pour out a glass of orange juice. Or at least it looked like orange juice, being orange and coming out of a container thus labelled.

"Tezumi-san isn't here, in case that's what you've come for," Inui told him, capping the jar of juice and replacing it into the refrigerator.

"Oh, I know," Fuji replied lightly. "You feel nothing for her, but she is keen on you to the point of being demanding. You'll have sent her home out of annoyance."

Inui turned to look at Fuji, his expression unreadable. He showed no sign of surprise, but Fuji was almost completely sure that he, Fuji, had just gone against one or more of the dataman's data-based predictions. The brunette continued to smile, and after a moment the two of them turned to go back to the sitting room.

"What is it that you wanted to talk about, then?" Inui asked, when they were both seated once more.

"Oh, nothing, there's just this little bit of data on Tezuka that I thought would be interesting to discuss." Fuji smiled inwardly as he saw his team-mates's eyebrows go up a slight bit.

_This could keep him here all night. _

_One hundred percent certain._

* * *

_You will not be disturbed. Inui is suspicious of me, and will have locked the door to his room if he knew ahead of time that I would be inside the house. His family members will not be able to detect your presence as long as you are quiet. He does not expect any of you to be involved, however, and will be a little less alert as long as he has me within sight_.

Knowing that he was safe and sound by the assurance of his trusted Fujiko, Eiji devoted his attention to solemnly wondering where the sickly bubbling test tubes, the Bunsen burners with their ghostly blue flames, and the deadly liquids in different shades of purple and green were.

He was amazed at the normality of the room, and its lack of weapons of mass destruction.

The sleek black computer on the wooden desk looked perfectly harmless, accompanied only by a lamp, some pens and an old photograph complete with a frame.

The most dangerous thing sitting on the bedside cabinet was the water jug, which might cause some pain to he who was hit on the head with it, but otherwise wasn't lethal.

The bare set of drawers, unless instead of t-shirts and pairs of pants it concealed a time bomb that was about to blow up, didn't seem quite ready to become a killer.

And not even the simplest of simpletons could run afoul of the bed unless they intentionally strangled themselves with the sheets.

Something Eiji felt sure wasn't at all fun and so was inadvisable to try.

Eyes wide and searching, he scanned the room once more, keeping a watchful eye out for any life-threatening objects.

_It should be relatively easy to spot. Inui can't know the time our arrival to the second, and therefore won't have enough time to stow it away carefully within the short time span that it takes me to be let into the house and reach his bedroom. If he decides that he will not risk even my entering it, he will have even less time to hide it._

Eiji hoped Fujiko was right, and that the Notebook would be located very quickly. He hoped that after he had found it, he would have time for a self-employed search-and-destroy mission.

Hey, what was the good of breaking into Inui's house if you couldn't even annihilate his stocks of vegetable juices?

But unfortunately for the courageous and considerate acrobat, the quest for the Notebook did not end as fast as he would have liked. Try as he might, Eiji couldn't for the life of him figure out where it was. The cautious actions of patting down the bed, methodically searching the bedside cabinet for secret compartments, and excruciatingly slowly rifling through the set of drawers—Eiji didn't _really_ believe it held a time bomb, of course, but it was always wiser to be careful about these things, just in case—yielded no satisfactory results.

Very much frustrated that his selfless willingness to offer himself up for self-sacrifice in order to achieve the greater good hadn't been of use, Eiji dejectedly sat down upon the floor, feeling sorry that he had let Fujiko down.

At this moment of greatest despair, the moping redhead suddenly caught site of a curious flash of green against the brownish floor boards from under the drawers beside him.

_Nya, what's this?_

Hope rose in him once more, and as he pulled out what looked like the corner of a thin green book, triumph flourished in him and poured from deep within his chest like a raging river that no man could hold back.

He had found the Notebook.

Although wanting very much to continue on with his original plans of digging out and exterminating any traces of vegetable juice in the room, Eiji knew in his heart that the little green book in his hand meant very much to his friend Fujiko, and so again Eiji selflessly ignored his own wishes, skipping off happily to bring Fujiko the book and acting the part of the tragic hero the acrobat had always been.

Even though 'tragic' might spark a little controversy.

Tip-toeing back to the window, Eiji took a moment to grasp at straws and give the room a last sweeping glance for anything that was designed to cause a fatality—though in reality, he was very much glad to be on his way out of the room. Not that he was _scared_, of course. He had just stayed in the room for too long for it to be any more fun, that was all—and then rid himself of all thought on saving mankind.

The not-so-tragic hero gave it up as a bad job and swung himself nimbly back onto the window sill.

Crash!

Being an acrobat and all, Eiji cleared the sill by five inches before recovering from his startled jump and gazing in horror at the water jug that had just fallen to the floor, knocked down from the bedside cabinet by one of his unwary legs from his previous nimble swing.

From outside of the room came loud voices and the sound of someone pounding up the stairs in a way that made people think the person feared the theft of his most precious data notebook.

Jittery from the tension and groping at the rope, it dawned upon Eiji that he had been detected and was about to be discovered.

By Inui.

In the act of stealing his notebook.

A discovery that would be very tragic indeed for him.

'Him', referring to Eiji.


End file.
